PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY

DURING A LONG LOCKDOWN IN MELBOURNE, DYLAN HESSELBERG RECEIVED A WELCOME COPY OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE ELEPHANT, ECO-SYSTEM AND EXPERIENCE BY GREG USHER. HERE, DYLAN OFFERS HIS REVIEW OF THE BOOK.

My vax-induced, less than flying start on the book soon turned into a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding read. Project Management in the 21st Century: What You Need to Know About the Elephant, Eco-System and Experience is as much an adventure and education for the reader as its title is a mouthful. Anybody with a particular interest in the origins of project management as a discipline and what the future could hold for project management as a profession will appreciate the premise of the book.

THE ‘PROJECT PEOPLE’

The author uses his book to express, in a most colloquial and light-hearted way, the trials and tribulations inevitably encountered by many, of what I like to call ‘project people’ (although the book title expressly references ‘project management’, there are pearls of wisdom in it for all project team members, not only ‘Project Managers’). In doing so he paints the ironically very clear picture of how dismally unclear and inconsistent the oxymoronic mutual understanding had by the full suite of ‘project people’ on a project often is.

A HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE

The real gold in the book however is the lateral and unique way the author then digs beneath the surface of the perceived ‘problems’ faced by projects and those who deliver them. Leaving no stone unturned in his quest to decipher the mysteries of project management, the author successfully and convincingly draws relationships between projects and project people, to human behaviour and the building blocks of the universe itself. In doing so, the book challenges our perception of project management by contemplating it more holistically and suggesting that project management as we know it today may only be the ear, eye, or trunk of the proverbial ‘elephant’.

DASHBOARD GREEN

Through a series of personal anecdotes, ample humour, and a deep dive into the linkages between projects, human psychology and the complexity theory, this book provides its readers with many wellarticulated and entertaining hypotheses and offers – in addition to its novel, out of the box thinking about project management – some very practical tips, tricks, and tools to project people.

When all is said and done, Project Management in the 21st Century: What You Need to Know About the Elephant, Eco-System and Experience is a fun and insightful read that, ‘in project dashboard speak’, gets a green light from me.

Author: Dylan Hesselberg FAIPM CPPM is the current Vice-President of the Victorian Chapter of the AIPM. He’s an experienced project professional and since moving to Australia in 2008, has had a hand in the delivery of significant public infrastructure in Qld and Vic. Dylan presently works as Director Technical Assurance at the Office of Projects Victoria (OPV) and is an advocate for enhancing project management capability across the public service.